The UN's highest environmental honor, the Champions of the Earth award, given to individuals for their transformative action to prevent, halt, and reverse ecosystem deterioration, has been awarded this year to Indian wildlife biologist Dr. Purnima Devi Barman. She has been accorded the award in the Entrepreneurial Vision category.

Wildlife biologist Barman is the head of the "Hargila Army," an all-female grassroots conservation campaign working to save the Greater Adjutant Stork from extinction. She is also the Senior Project Manager of the Avifauna Research and Conservation Division, Aaranyak.

Growing up on the banks of the Brahmaputra river in Assam, Barman fell in love with birds and would sing to the egrets and storks. She spent most of her career working to save the endangered greater adjutant stork, the second-rarest stork species in the world.

The stork is locally known as "hargila" in Assamese, which means "bone swallower," and Barman understood she had to change people's ideas about the bird to conserve it, so she rallied a group of village women to assist her.

Today, there are about 10,000 women that make up the "Hargila Army." They guard nesting areas, treat hurt storks that have fallen from their nests, and plan "baby showers" to welcome the arrival of fresh hatchlings. The greater adjutant stork regularly appears in traditional songs, poems, festivals, and plays.

According to Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, "Barman's groundbreaking conservation effort has empowered thousands of women, created entrepreneurs, and improved lifestyles while saving the greater adjutant stork from extinction."